186 CUCULID/E CHRYSOCOCCYX 



becoming more widely separated towards the tail-coverts. The 

 colours of the soft parts ai'e the same as in the male. 



Length about 7*75 ; wing 4'25 ; tail 3-40 ; tarsus 065 ; 

 culm en 0-60. 



Distribution. — The Emerald Cuckoo is found throughout Africa 

 from the Gambia and Abyssinia southwards to the Colony. So far 

 as our present information goes it is a migratory bird, spending 

 the southern summer, from October to March, in south and east 

 Afi-ica, and the rest of the year, April to September, in west and 

 north-east Africa, the movement probably depending on the rains. 



In South Africa this bird is found at Knysna not uncommonly, 

 but appears to be somewhat scarce in the eastern province. It is 

 common in many parts of Natal, and has been procured in Rhodesia 

 and the Zambesi valley, but not hitherto in the Transvaal or in the 

 western half of our region. 



The following ai-e recorded localities : Cape Colony — Knysna, 

 October to December (Victorin and S. A. Mus.) ; Albany, Uiten- 

 hage (Ivy, only once). Port St. John's, November, January (S. A. 

 Mus.) ; Natal — Durban and Pinetown (Shelley), Newcastle, October 

 (Reid), Echowe, October to November (Woodward); Rhodesia — 

 Kafue river, January (Alexander), Makombi's country, north-east 

 of Salisbury (Marshall). 



Habits. — The Emerald Cuckoo is the rarest and most beautiful 

 of the three Green Cuckoos of South Africa. It is usually found 

 in forest or thick bush, where the male selects for its perch the 

 topmost branch of a tall tree and calls with a loud and clear musical 

 note, and is thus conspicuous and easily shot, while the female is 

 shyer and silent, and usually remains concealed. Caterpillars and 

 the winged females of white ants appear to form the greater part of 

 their food, and on the latter they dart like a fly-catcher. Their 

 flight is swift and dipping. 



Little is known about the nesting habits of this Cuckoo, but the 

 Woodwards state that two birds shot by them in October and 

 December contained shelled eggs, one of which was white and the 

 other white speckled with purple. 



465. Chrysococcyx klaasi. Klaas' Cuckoo. 



Le Coucou de Klaas, Levaill. Ois. d'Afr. v, p. 58, pi. 212 (1806). 



Cuculus klaasi, Steph. Gen. Zool. ix, p. 128 (1815); Grill, K. Vet. 

 Al-ad. Hamll. ii, no. 10, p. 43 (1858), [Knysna, Oudtshooni] ; Sharjje, 

 r. Z. 8. 1873, p. 592 ; id. ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 155 (1875) ; 

 Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 83 [Durban]. 



